The Eurasian otters we see here are the same ones as in our rivers, and they still need to live nearby some freshwater source. Scotland has the vast majority of the UK population and the west coast in particular has a lot of great otter habitat.

The ones living near our pontoon and surrounding areas have become used to the boat and because we are always careful not to disturb them, let us get pretty close.

Otters have two layers of fur and up to 70,000 hairs per square centimetre! Compare this to humans who have a tiny 400… They have to groom their pelts every time they leave the water to keep the bubbles of air in which keeps them nice and warm.

For some cute videos of otters click here!